When you plant camellias in your yard, you can have six months of flowers because there are fall-, winter- and spring-flowering types. Camellias need little to keep them healthy and attractive looking. Pruning them a little along the way helps.

You can learn what camellias need during a workshop 6:30-8:30 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 12, at Sandy Bottom Nature Park in Hampton. The Virginia Camellia Society and Hampton master gardeners do the free, indoor workshop to cover pruning, air layering, grafting, planting and general camellia care. The Virginia Camellia Society members will be available to answer camellia questions. For more information contact Toni McKenna, 757-376-2119 or tmckenna@cox.net.

The program will be held in the park's conference center at 1255 Big Bethel Road. Again, it's free and open to the public.

I've grown camellias in several of my yards for decades and find them to be among the easiest most-forgiving plants you can grow. Once established, they tolerate drought and tidal flooding. Birds like camellias because they are evergreen and provide them with protective cover from hawks and give them nice nesting places.

Camellias are pruned once they finish flowering. I prune mine to remove only crossing, rubbing and broken branches -- opening them up so air and light can penetrate the plant and thus prevent disease and insects from bothering them. Basically, prune camellias so a songbird can land on a branch on one side of the plant, easily hop through the plant and fly out the other side.

Camellias like a fertilizer made for acid-loving plants, but really I seldom feed mine. They thrive under pine trees in filtered shade.